Toughness in post contagious for Irish

Syracuse women's basketball player Iasia Hemingway drove the lane, and quickly ran into a roadblock wearing the numbers 14 and 32 in blue on white uniforms.

As Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters and Becca Bruszewski quickly sealed off the lane, Irish guard Skylar Diggins zoomed in to close off the escape route.

Hemingway tried to bull forward and loft a shot, a shot that Bruszewski made sure quickly went in reverse.

Visiting Syracuse tried to run through and around the Irish. Notre Dame may have picked up a few bruises from the physical and athletic Orange, but the No. 9 Irish also picked up their 14th victory in the last 15 games.

Irish (19-4, 8-1 Big East) now escape to sunny Tampa to take on South Florida on Saturday (7 p.m. EST).

Notre Dame's defense led the Irish to a 71-48 victory against Syracuse on Tuesday night. It was the lowest point total of the season for Syracuse (16-5, 4-4) in Big East play, with the previous low coming in a 70-61 loss to West Virginia. Notre Dame also held Syracuse to a season-low 25.5-percent shooting (13-of-51).

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Quickness and execution have been trademarks of Notre Dame's relentless defense, which is third in the Big East, allowing 53.0 points a game. Syracuse entered Tuesday's game averaging 75.8 points and